The Baldpate is like a club - one runs into people one has seen there for years, if you are staying there tea and such and cookies are provided as needed on the porch or in the library (where one can play games and watch TV) , the Park is but a stroll away and the view is spectacular. I love it, my aged father hates it. It is not a 5 star hotel nor a holiday Inn. One has to like its quirky charm, but if you don't mind sharing a bathroom and want lots of ambiance, this is the place for you is Estes Park.

The location of the Baldpate Inn is certainly picturesque, though a hefty drive from the town of Estes Park. We paid a premium for a cabin which, unfortunately, did not have any of the views supposedly offered by the cheaper rooms in the main building. The place is entirely staffed by students, who were incredibly helpful and friendly but there was clearly a limit to what they could offer. This included some poor housekeeping skills - dead moths on the bathroom floor for days - and we waited at least two days for the hot tub to be fixed.

We were glad the breakfasts were included in the price as their current cost is $20 each. You get a lot of food for this, but not much choice. Equally, their dinner of soup and salad costs $14.25. The salad buffet was not overly generous though the soups were excellent. I must stress, however, that the chance to watch hummingbirds while eating a meal is (almost literally) priceless!

We had nicer dinners at other places, including Mary's Lake Tavern, and there was accommodation available closer to the National Park which presumably would not charge a premium for the musty Key Room and tenuous historical significance.

If it's hot, like in July and you're sleeping there then be prepared to wake up feeling lighter because you've sweated all night long. No A/C, no fans and can't open the windows. The carpet in our room was dirty. Also, our 1 year old son found a used diabetic glucouse testing strip on the floor. If you're planning to eat dinner there then be prepared to be disappointed when they have salad buffet night.. Oh joy! Salad!
The road to this place and the parking lot is gravel with ruts. The management could have cared to put money back into this place years ago but have since been riding the "it's historic!" theme so I guess they feel they don't need to upate ANYTHING. Good luck with that, it'll only last so long. I will say the staff was friendly which counts for something.

I recently stayed here for 2 nights while on a guided hiking trip in the Rocky Mountains with a small group. While The Baldpate Inn’s (TBI) address is Estes Park, it is a good ways out of town on South Highway 7 near Lilly Lake and Twin Sisters Mountain. I felt isolated here, but that is not TBI’s fault as our guides made all of the arrangements. I would not, however, stay here again, opting on my own to stay in more modern arrangements somewhere in Estes Park proper.

TBI consists of a main lodge with 12 guest rooms, most of which have shared bath/shower/toilet facilities. All of the 12 rooms have a sink en suite. Several of the main lodge rooms do, however, have en suite showers and toilets. The 12 guest rooms, along with the shared bath/shower/toilet facilities, are all on the top floor of the main lodge building.

The lower lodge level includes a large dining room and food prep area, a reception and lounge area with a large stone fireplace, the large key collection room, and a library/game room that includes a television with satellite service. There is a laptop computer with broadband internet available for guest use in a dark corner of the key collection room.

Also on the lower lodge level, there is a large outdoor covered seating area with views of the area. And the outdoor seating area and the outside of the dining room windows were lined with numerous hummingbird feeders, which were always busy. There were also 1 or 2 seed feeders attracting larger birds and chipmunks. It was a very relaxing place to sit and view nature; however, the hard wooden furniture was not very comfortable. The numerous hummingbirds were the highlight of my stay here.

TBI also has 4 individual cabins just a short walk from the main lodge. All of the cabins have a sitting area with fireplace. Each cabin has a minimum 2 night stay.

The entire lodge, guest rooms and cabins are nonsmoking and no pets are allowed.

A set menu breakfast is included in the room rate. Lunch and dinner are not included and consist of a soup, salad and bread bar.

My lodge room was very small and contained only a double bed under a steeply slanted roof, a chest of drawers, the aforementioned sink and a rocking chair. The floor was creaky wood. The reading light above the bed was laughably close to my head – we are talking inches here.

My room was hot in the late afternoon and well into the night and there is no air conditioning. Unfortunately the only small window did not have a screen so it was a choice between cooler air or bugs. I believe this was the case with all 12 of the lodge guest rooms. And yes, I did try to leave the window open but did get bugs in the room. Also, with the window open, some of the other guest rooms could see into mine.

The shared bath/shower/toilet facilities were not between the rooms but rather clustered together centrally to all of the rooms. There are bathrobes in the rooms for your walk down the creaky hallway.

At least one of the shared facility rooms had a full tub. Another had a large shower, but 2 other shower only rooms were little more than small closets and very cramped. I found the shared facilities to not be well attended by staff between uses and found used soap and hair in the showers. There may have been others but I only saw 1 shared toilet room on the guest room floor, which also was not very well attended.

I guess if you are into old creaky buildings with shared bath/shower/toilet facilities then you might be charmed by TBI. But it wasn’t for me and I cannot recommend it, but clearly I am in the minority here.